Paolo Polimeno – Soft Matter Lab

Soft Matter Lab’s presentations at OSA-OMA 2021

The Soft Matter Lab is involved in six presentations at the OSA Biophotonic Congress: Optics in the Life Sciences 2021, topical meeting of Optical Manipulation and its Applications.
Moreover, three of the presentations were selected as finalists for the best student paper in the topical meeting of Optical Manipulation and its Applications.

You can find the details below:

12 April

15:00 CEST
Clustering of Janus Particles Under the Effect of Optical Forces Driven by Hydrodynamic Fluxes (AM1D.3)
Agnese Callegari, Gothenburg University

15 April

15:45 CEST
FORMA and BEFORE: Expanding Applications of Optical Tweezers (ATh1D.5) Finalist
Laura Pérez García, Gothenburg University

16 April

12:30 CEST
Dynamics of an Active Nanoparticle in an Optical Trap (AF1D.2) Finalist
Falko Schmidt, Gothenburg University

13:15 CEST
Gain-Assisted Plasmonic/Dielectric Nanoshells in Optical Tweezers: Non-Linear Optomechanics and Thermal Effects. (AF1D.5)
Paolo Polimeno, University of Messina

16:00 CEST
Machine Learning to Enhance the Calculation of Optical Forces in the Geometrical Optics Approximation (AF2D.3) Finalist
David Bronte Ciriza, CNR-IPCF, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici

16:15 CEST
Calibration of Force Fields Using Recurrent Neural Networks (AF2D.4)
Aykut Argun, University of Gothenburg

Presentation by P. Polimeno at OSA-OMA-2021

Gain-Assisted Plasmonic/Dielectric Nanoshells in Optical Tweezers: Non-Linear Optomechanics and Thermal Effects.
Paolo Polimeno, Francesco Patti, Melissa Infusino, Jonathan Sànchez, Maria Iati, Rosalba Saija, Giovanni Volpe, Onofrio Maragò, Alessandro Veltri
Submitted as OSA-OMA-2021, AF1D.D Contribution
Date: 16 April
Time: 13:15 CEST

Short Abstract
We study theoretically the optomechanics of a dyed dielectric/metallic nanoshell in stationary Optical Tweezers. We consider the thermophoretic effects due to the interaction between the incident radiation and the nanoparticle metallic component.

Gain-Assisted Optomechanical Position Locking of Metal/Dielectric Nanoshells in Optical Potentials published on ACS Photonics

Counter-propagating laser beam intensity, represented and projected on the yz plane.

Gain-Assisted Optomechanical Position Locking of Metal/Dielectric Nanoshells in Optical Potentials
Paolo Polimeno, Francesco Patti, Melissa Infusino, Jonathan Sánchez, Maria A. Iatì, Rosalba Saija, Giovanni Volpe, Onofrio M. Maragò & Alessandro Veltri
ACS Photonics 7(5), 1262–1270 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.0c00213

We investigate gain-assisted optical forces on dye-enriched silver nanoshell in the quasi-static limit by means of a theoretical/numerical approach. We demonstrate the onset of nonlinear optical trapping of these resonant nanostructures in a counter-propagating Gaussian beam configuration. We study the optical forces and trapping behavior as a function of wavelength, particle gain level, and laser power. We support the theoretical analysis with Brownian dynamics simulations that show how particle position locking is achieved at high gains in extended optical trapping potentials. Finally, for wavelengths blue-detuned with respect to the plasmon-enhanced resonance, we observe particle channeling by the standing wave antinodes due to gradient force reversal. This work opens perspectives for gain-assisted optomechanics where nonlinear optical forces are finely tuned to efficiently trap, manipulate, channel, and deliver an externally controlled nanophotonic system.

Review on Optical Tweezers published in J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad. Transf.

Optical tweezers and their applications
Paolo Polimeno, Alessandro Magazzù, Maria Antonia Iata, Francesco Patti, Rosalba Saija, Cristian Degli Esposti Boschi, Maria Grazia Donato, Pietro G. Gucciardi, Philip H. Jones, Giovanni Volpe & Onofrio M. Maragò
Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 218(October 2018), 131—150 (2018)
DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.07.013

Optical tweezers, tools based on strongly focused light, enable optical trapping, manipulation, and characterisation of a wide range of microscopic and nanoscopic materials. In the limiting cases of spherical particles either much smaller or much larger than the trapping wavelength, the force in optical tweezers separates into a conservative gradient force, which is proportional to the light intensity gradient and responsible for trapping, and a non-conservative scattering force, which is proportional to the light intensity and is generally detrimental for trapping, but fundamental for optical manipulation and laser cooling. For non-spherical particles or at intermediate (meso)scales, the situation is more complex and this traditional identification of gradient and scattering force is more elusive. Moreover, shape and composition can have dramatic consequences for optically trapped particle dynamics. Here, after an introduction to the theory and practice of optical forces with a focus on the role of shape and composition, we give an overview of some recent applications to biology, nanotechnology, spectroscopy, stochastic thermodynamics, critical Casimir forces, and active matter.